


Shadows at Noon

by mamadeb



Category: The X-Files
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 1999-09-30
Updated: 1999-09-30
Packaged: 2018-11-21 00:57:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11346681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mamadeb/pseuds/mamadeb
Summary: A meeting between two men





	Shadows at Noon

**Author's Note:**

> Note from alice ttlg, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [The Basement](http://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Basement), which moved to the AO3 to ensure the stories are always available and so that authors may have complete control of their own works. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in June 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [The Basement's collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/thebasement/profile).

 

Shadows at Noon by Debra Fran Baker

28 Nov 98

Shadows at Noon  
by Debra Fran Baker  
Nov. 17, 1998  
Disclaimers: All but one of the nameless people in this story belong to Chris Carter and Ten-Thirteen. Mama is mine.   
Warnings: None.  
Spoilers: None.  
Author's note: This story takes place in the same universe as Shadow Bar. They may not have names but you know who they are.  
Summary: A meeting between two men.

* * *

When I signed off on their latest 302 that morning, we weren't alone. Under the official talk, I could only speak to them with my eyes. I told him to be careful, to be safe, to come back to me. That I loved him. I told her to watch out for him, to take of him for me, to take care of herself, to bring them both back to me safely. His eyes told me he understood; hers were as unreadable as always. I know what a burden I'd laid on those slender shoulders, but she's stronger than I'll ever be.

They left on their wild alien hunt and I finished up my business for the morning. My office emptied. On a whim, I checked my e-mail. Maybe he'd left me one of his cryptic messages before he caught his plane.

One message had no subject header, and an unfamiliar name. I opened it. 

"Shadows at noon."

I had just time to get my coat.

        ***

Mama was standing behind the bar as I came in. She looked at me and nodded to a table in a remote corner. There was someone there, hiding in the darkness. I walked past the other tables, filled with men known and unknown. No one caught my eyes. If I recognized any of them, I gave no sign. No one has a name in that bar.

I slid into the booth, and took a good look at the man there. His eyes sparkled over his dark suit. My stomach clenched. 

"You."

He nodded and sipped his tea. "Me."

Mama, quiet despite her size, put a cup of coffee in front of me. There was a warning in her eyes, but I knew better than to risk exile. Men like me sometimes need the Shadows. She dipped her eyes in acknowledgment and left us alone.

"What do you want? You want him?"

He smiled coldly. "I could have him anytime."

"Is this a challenge?" I looked into those sorcerer's eyes, and then at his stiff left arm.

"What do you think?"

"Do you think he'll go to you if I'm out of the way?"

He shook his head. "I know better than to predict what he'll do."

"Why are you here? Why have you risked meeting me?"

He took another sip of tea. "You love him."

I stared at my coffee for a moment and then looked up. "So do you."

"I've been watching him. I'm good at watching. Rats are. He's almost happy. He's almost safe."

"Almost." The word cut like a knife.

"That's more than I could ever do. I could only make him hurt more, put him in more danger. I could only watch him die." He smiled tightly, and I could see a glint of something in one eye. "I could only kill him."

"You're...letting him go?" Could I be that strong? 

"I will be watching. And if there ever comes a time when I can do better than you can, I will fight for him. If there ever comes a time when you make him unhappy, you are dead."

"If that time ever comes, I will not fight you because I will *be* dead." I drank my coffee down.

He nodded. "Until that time, take care of him. Make him as happy as his soul will allow." 

We both stood. I tossed some money on the table. The strangeness of our bond stretched between us. Before I walked out the door and he faded back into the shadows, I followed some dark impulse and pulled him into my arms.

His mouth tasted of tea and bitterness.


End file.
